Weather the Weather
by EmaniaHilel
Summary: How to describe this in this box? A lightning storm and Haruhi is walking around a sleeping pensione at night - each chapter showcases how each host would deal with the situation. Right now it stands at being Haruhi/Kyoya and Haruhi/Hitachin. Each chapter stands alone.
1. Beginning

**A/N: **So, hi there! This is bound to be a bit of a long note, so sit back and relax. You could skip over it if you want, but if you do, you'll probably be confused later on...

Now that that's out of the way, I feel I must warn you that what you are about to read is not finished, and probably (maybe) will not (might be) finished.

But then again, each chapter following this first chapter will stand alone, so it's not like you'll be left on a cliffhanger or anything like that if you do read ahead.

Maybe I should explain?

Okay. So, I started writing this when I first got into watching **_Ouran_** anime and I went off on a frenzy of inspiration on this fandom and wrote a few things (one thing that actually was finished and posted), but most of them that were just ideas with some snippets of actual prose or dialogue, but mostly none of them made it to completion.

(Well, there was ONE other that was completed, but it's a little too risque, and I'm not too comfortable sharing it...)

Anyway, so I recently found out that there was an **_Ouran_** live action drama! So, I started watching that, and it made me remember what I had written and start pulling them out to see what that had been, and I found this.

The intention had been to do a sort of "pick your own adventure" (or, in this particular case, a "pick your own host" situation). I came up with this one scenario idea, and wanted to try to write it out featuring Haruhi (of course) interacting with each of the hosts, one chapter per host. I actually wrote out the first two (Kyoya and the Hitachin), and had a few vague ideas for how to approach the scenario with the other hosts, but I never really fleshed those other ideas out.

BUT...the first two were finished.

And when I re-read them, I thought, "Hey...these aren't too bad...they're certainly good enough that they don't have to languish in obscurity!" So, I decided to post them.

Still with me?

OKAY! So, here goes. This first chapter will apply to each of the following chapters, but chapter 2 is different and independent of chapter 3. Does that make sense? The last paragraph of Chapter 1 will repeat in Chapter 2 and in Chapter 3, with a slight change to reflect the particular Host that chapter features.

Anyway, let me know what y'all think, 'kay? If there's anything confusing, or if there's something I can say to make it clearer, let me know.

As always, I'm relatively new to the fandom and don't write it in it regularly, so any constructive criticism is welcome and cherished.

Oh, and these haven't been beta'd...at all (except by like, me). So, sorry for any errors I'm too tired to catch.

**Disclaimer****:** Not mine.

_**Weather the Weather  
Beginning  
by Em**_

"_Whether the weather be fair / whether the weather be not..." _

Truthfully, Haruhi couldn't say that it was the spattering of drops against her windows that woke her. She hadn't really been asleep. She had learned, all too long ago, the tell-tale warning signs of storms, afterall. She had known that night, after everyone had gone to bed and she had reached out to close the window of her bedroom - she had felt the storm approaching on the wind and caught the scent of the ozone in the air. Looking at the sky, she had recognized the speed with which the clouds moved long before the first drops of rain hit the sturdy walls of the Morinozuka summer house at Shirahama Beach.

She hadn't even attempted to sleep after that; she knew it would be pointless.

Oh, the others hadn't guessed, and she'd let them assume she was going to sleep when they did, but she had known even then...

So she lay awake and waited; too frightened to put on the earphones to the iPod the Twins had given her the previous year for Christmas - frightened the way someone who knows that an evil is going to walk up behind them is afraid to close their eyes, even as they understand that seeing it coming will do nothing to save them - and too proud to crawl into the convenient wardrobe along one side of the guest room she'd been given near the end of the upstairs hallway.

Logically, academically, she _knew_ that nothing could hurt her in this house. It was sturdily built and she'd noted the weather vanes along the highest portion of the roof almost from the moment they'd arrived. However, in this case, like in nothing else connected with Haruhi's life, knowledge, academics, and logic did not help her.

So she waited - numb, curled up into a ball near the middle of her bed - for the thunder to begin to crash and roll across the sky, and tried to make herself think of other things.

Things such as the way 24 hours before she had been in the very familiar street in her very familiar neighborhood, having tea with her friends while they told stories about all the different places they'd visited in their relatively short lives.

They made places like Australia and New Zealand sound almost approachable and wonderful and places like London and Ireland seem like something out of Charles Dickens or James Joyce, although she supposed it could've been her own imagination providing the mental images to go with their descriptions.

She had wished she could see those places, she really had. It wasn't that she wasn't happy with her life as it was, and wouldn't be content to live there all her life, but she understood the appeal of exploring places she'd never been to before.

She had just been looking at a brochure for Shirahama Beach, however, that her father had brought home from a competition he'd entered at the supermarket, so when they asked her whether she wanted to go there, she'd been unable to deny it.

Somehow, someway, within 4 hours, they were on their way. Her bags had been packed (with little input from her), and a helicopter had been ordered and 6 hours later, there they were. She'd never been on a helicopter, so although they'd told her to sleep since they'd be getting to Shirahama around daybreak and wouldn't want to go to sleep then, she hadn't been able to. The experience was too new - too alien, and entirely too enjoyable.

And then, of course, they'd barely landed on the lawn of the summer house before she was whisked off to sightsee.

She'd had fun. More fun because she was with her friends than if she'd been seeing the place all by herself, of course, and she hadn't felt a bit tired...not until after her shower before dinner.

By the time night had fallen, they were all exhausted, and had decided to make an early night of it in order to wake up bright and early the next day for more sightseeing.

Except Haruhi wasn't sleeping. She couldn't.

And when the first flash of lightning streaked across the ample windows in the room, she cringed, sitting bolt upright as soon as she realized it wouldn't be followed by thunder and ran straight out of her room.

There were way too many windows in that room.

Left alone in the hallway with the only light coming from up ahead where the hallway opened up on one end to reveal the balcony overlooking the first floor entryway and the stairs below, Haruhi wondered what to do next.

Every part of this house had windows, she realized with some frustration. Maybe a hallway bathroom? But she hadn't seen one of those, and this made sense since as she'd been told, every room had en suite bathrooms.

She could go into the bathroom in her bedroom, but frankly, that would mean walking across the open area where the windows were, and what would happen if a bolt of lightning would strike right through the window and...

She couldn't finish the thought, so she started walking down the hallway instead, her eyes falling on the first door after her own - Hunny's room. And beyond that, Tamaki, the Twins, and Kyoya. Mori, of course, had had his room in another part of the house where the family slept.

Should she wake them? Any one of them?

They _had_ made her promise to wake them should she need anything. They hadn't suspected a storm was coming, of course, but they had said that she could. And she had, after all, promised she would. But could she? They were all tired, she knew that...and it wasn't like any of them could actually do anything, could they?

No.

_But then you wouldn't be alone,_ a little voice whispered inside her. It had been easier to bear the thunder and lightning when Hikaru or Tamaki held her.

She knew it had been, but...

She started down the hall, hand trailing on Hunny's door, remembering how much he enjoyed his sleep and how cranky he always got when awoken. Oh, she knew he wouldn't be cranky with her, but she would hate to make him uncomfortable or upset.

And on she went down the hallway, hand trailing on each door and thinking of reasons not to wake the friend behind it; Tamaki slept like the dead, the Twins slept with earphones on and wouldn't hear her anyway, and Kyoya...


	2. Kyoya

**A/N:** See Chapter 1, "Beginning" for full explanation.

_**Weather the Weather  
Kyoya  
by Em**_

"_...whether the weather be cold / whether the weather be hot..."_

And on she went down the hallway, hand trailing on each door and thinking of reasons not to wake the friend behind it; Tamaki slept like the dead, the Twins slept with earphones on and wouldn't hear her anyway, and Kyoya...

She paused, not because she was actually contemplating waking up the Low Blood Pressure Shadow King, but because from so close, she could see that there was a light on under his door. She strained to listen, but couldn't hear a sound, and wondered if perhaps he fell asleep with the light on.

Shaking her head, she started to move on, halfway through thinking that perhaps she'd find someplace to hide downstairs, when the lightning flashed through a window behind her and she started, bumping into the balustrade at her back and holding onto it in a white-knuckled fist as she waited for the thunder that never came.

Before she could recover from the expectation of the thunder, the door in front of her opened and it startled her enough that she jumped again, free hand on her heart as if to keep it from tumbling out of her chest. Calming down, she looked up and exhaled.

Kyoya stood at the door, wearing striped blue and green drawstring pajama pants and a frown. "Haruhi," he greeted, his voice still somehow managing the noticeable frown even while still almost being a whisper.

She didn't need him to verbally ask what she was doing up- she knew him well enough by now- but she answered him only when her heart had stopped beating like it wanted to escape through her chest to go find somewhere less taxing to rest. "I couldn't sleep."

Kyoya's expression didn't change, "Obviously."

She hated talking to him sometimes. None of the others ever made her feel as _common_ as Kyoya could, even if he was the one that flaunted the physical presence of his position and wealth the least. But just because he was _understated_ and generally _adaptable_ didn't mean he was any less aware of his own position, his world, their world and her place in it.

To Kyoya, she was common, and it had nothing to do with who she knew or how much money she had (or, didn't have, as the case may be). It was something that ran through her blood, unseen yet controlling, like the current that pushes a river ever downstream: intractable and constant. It was about something she could do absolutely nothing about: her birth. No one could change the current.

It was quite a conundrum to Haruhi. The others always made her aware of the differences between them, the things she knew that they didn't and vice versa, but none of them ever made her feel as low born as he did.

"Well, sorry to have bothered…" she started formerly before the flash of lightning cut the air out of her lungs and she tensed, waiting.

With a nearly inaudible sigh, Kyoya stepped away from his door, letting it close behind him, and walked passed her down the hall, the way she came. She stood watching his graceful progress in surprised immobility. He reached the stairs and stopped, turning to stare at her, his dark gray eyes gleaming in the muted hallway lights.

"Well?" he asked, "Are you coming?"

Haruhi needed no further prodding. She didn't know where he was going or why he was inviting her, but it didn't particularly matter. If she could get passed this lightning storm without climbing into a closet, it would be a step in the right direction. He waited until she stood just behind him on the landing, her hand on the railing just above his, before starting his composed descent.

He led her through the entry hall, past the sitting room, and Haruhi realized he was barefoot, but it wasn't until she followed him into the kitchen that she realized he wasn't wearing his glasses.

She watched him turn on the light over the stove and efficiently look through the cupboards until he found what he was looking for. She stood across the island counter from him, waiting for him to bang his head into something or trip over anything, she even watched his face to see if he'd squint, but he did none of these and she had to wonder if maybe he wore contact lenses to sleep like she did, rather than have to put them in and take them out all the time. When he brought the tea kettle to the sink in front of her, expertly dipping it under the rush of water to fill it, she half expected him to spill some or not note when it was full enough, but he stopped the water at exactly the right time and turned about to put it on the stove, flipping the burner on almost carelessly.

"You're not wearing your glasses," she said quietly into the echoing silence of the darkened kitchen.

"No, I'm not." He knew he didn't have to say any more. It hadn't really been a question, anyway.

"So wait," Haruhi asked, striving for logic, "Does that mean you can see? You only use the glasses for show?"

Kyoya smirked, but hid it by searching the cabinets for the tea leaves and other tea things. 'It appears,' he thought, not a little amused, 'that Haruhi is starting to learn the ways of the Host Club.' He wiped all trace of humor from his voice before speaking, "I only need them to read."

She was skeptical, "But you use them all the time," she argued.

He found something that called itself tea but was wrapped in a strange packaging he had never seen before. He brought the box down out of the cabinet and answered her absently, "I am almost always reading." He looked up at her. "It is simpler and more efficient to keep them on all the time rather than remove them for only a few moments at a time."

She gazed at him with an utterly flat expression, "And it doesn't hurt that the glasses help your appeal as far as the Host Club Clients are concerned."

"If you say so," he answered, all too humbly.

Haruhi realized what he was obviously taking her comment as and might have responded quite caustically regarding the nature of his conceit, but she was prevented from doing so by the sudden flash of lightning bringing the kitchen into startling and momentary brightness. She froze, awaiting the chilling roll or earth-shattering crash that was almost certain to come at any moment.

But none came.

And after a few moments, the cabinet door above them closed with a bang and it started Haruhi out of her tense expectation. "It appears as if it is only going to be a light show this time," Kyoya spoke, fiddling with a small brownish-black filled bag.

Haruhi realized what Kyoya did, of course (Ootori Kyoya did not go about banging cabinets or anything else for that matter, after all) and she appreciated it immensely. But she wouldn't say a word about it, because she also knew he would deny doing it. But a question was starting to form in her primarily logical mind.

So she sat on the stool in front of the counter and watched his expression, just this side of frustrated, as he fiddled with the teabag, "Kyoya-Sempai?"

"Yes?" he asked, not bothering to look up at her.

"Why are you awake?" she asked.

Kyoya paused for a moment and looked at the teabag with interest. "I was finishing up some work," he answered after a moment. "I wanted tea before I went to sleep, opened up my door," he looked up at her and gave her a questioning look, "and found you on the other side."

It was a perfectly logical explanation, Haruhi thought, but wasn't sure she bought it just the same.

He waited a moment for his explanation to sink in before continuing, "What _were_ you doing outside my door, Haruhi?" he asked. "Did you feel the irrepressible urge to purge your dinner in my bathroom again?" He cocked his head a little to the side, "I hope that isn't to become a habit of some sort."

Haruhi fought back the blush of double embarrassment at being caught and at the reminder of an incident she had yet to live down. She looked down at Kyoya's hands and realized, probably for the first time, that he appeared to be fighting with a teabag.

And the teabag was winning.

She figured a little return teasing was his due, so she decided to ask. "Kyoya-Sempai," she started, raising a brow, "What are you doing?"

He looked at her as if he were disappointed in her lack of observational skills before glancing back at the teabag as he tried to tear into the thing. "I should think it were obvious," he said in the haughty tone that usually grated on her 'commoner' nerves. "I'm making tea."

"But what are you doing with the bag?" she asked, a smile obvious in her voice.

"How else do you pretend I go about getting the tea leaves to put in the strainer, Haruhi?" he asked.

She smirked. "The teabag is the strainer, Kyoya-Sempai," she explained. Standing a little in her seat and reaching across the counter, she plucked the tea bag out of his hands and dunked it into the tea cup. "Now just pour the water over it, add honey, milk, or sugar, and you're done."

"Obviously further evidence of commoner innovation," Kyoya mused pensively as he poured the water into the mugs, watching as the tea seeped into the water, in brownish-black swirls, as the smell of chamomile wafted up in wisps.

Haruhi paused for a moment, then grinned. "I think that's the closest to a compliment you've ever offered my class, Kyoya-sempai."

Kyoya looked up and met her eyes. "It wasn't a compliment," he explained. "Simply an observation."

Haruhi definitely had something to say about that obvious snub, but Kyoya's scooping half a spoonful of sugar into one cup and two into the other stole the thought away.

She knew he was observant, and that nothing that held any interest to him or might be useful to him in some manner had ever (or would ever) escape his notice (or induction into one of his notebooks as a ward against possible, albeit unlikely, memory failure), but why would he know how she took her tea?

That she could think of, he'd only ever had tea at the same time as her when they'd all dropped in at her apartment and she'd been roped into making them tea, and, as it turned out, lunch. Their appointments with the Host Club didn't count. It wasn't like he was likely to be watching her close enough to now how much sugar she put in her tea then.

She also knew that the one time he'd been to her house for tea wouldn't be enough for Kyoya to make any assumptions about the nature of her tea-drinking preferences – not an analytical mind like his. (It wouldn't be enough for her to come to any conclusions, either, afterall).

Just when she thought he was done (his cup was missing nothing) and she was thinking of whether her penchant for a dallop of milk was enough to get her out of her seat, Kyoya turned around and went to the fridge, pulling out the milk carton like he'd been doing such things all his life. (Haruhi couldn't imagine him even knowing what a fridge looked like in real life, except through reference pictures.)

She might have said something had he not paused to press his face close to the windows on his way back. Haruhi was out of her daze immediately and half out of her seat. "Don't—" she started, before the sudden flash illuminated his profile so clearly, he blinked back the sudden light. Haruhi scrambled off the stool in a panic, "Kyoya!" she called urgently, just as yet another flash of lightning exposed his surprised expression. "Get away from the window!" she called, in a much more excited manner than any of them had ever heard from her.

He stepped away calmly, back toward her, and this time, when the faint sound of thunder rolled far in the distance, Haruhi barely heard it for the sound of her heart thumping in her ears.

"God, you scared me!" she breathed, her hand going to her chest where her heart was beating against it. She leaned heavily on the counter as if she'd just run a half-marathon.

"Obviously," he drolled, as calm as ever, and if she had been in her right mind, she might have noticed the remnants of surprise in his eyes.

"Don't you know it's dangerous to stand near windows during a lightning storm?" she asked, half-angrily. It would surprise her, later, how _very_ scared she had been when that lightning had flashed and for a split second she had thought…

"Old wives' tale," he said dismissively, opening the milk.

"Kyoya!" she exclaimed, surprised he wasn't taking her serious, despite the fright she had just experienced.

He paused, hand with milk carton poised, a few degrees short of pouring milk into one of the mugs, but he didn't look up. "What, Haruhi?" He looked at her then and their eyes met as he lowered the milk back to the countertop.

Her voice, when she spoke, was even and quiet, but no less serious because of it. "Don't do something that reckless again."

They stared at each other for a few more moments, and Haruhi, to his surprise, didn't back down.

He lifted the milk again and broke their stare as he let the milk splash into the green mug with the half a spoonful of sugar in it. When it had turned just the right color, he stopped, put the milk down and pushed the mug across the counter to her.

"Have some tea," he finally spoke, stirring the tea in the blue mug in front of him with casual grace.

"Thank you," Haruhi said, bringing the cup to her lips, and taking a sip, even while her eyes were still on Kyoya, doing the same.

Kyoya looked back at the window. "It appears that the sky is clearing, finally."

Haruhi took another sip of tea, breathing in the calming scent of it and wondering why her heart wasn't going back to its normal cadence just yet. "Hmm," she agreed. She hazarded a glance at the window. "The sun's coming up."

"Hmm," Kyoya agreed.


	3. Hikaru & Kaoru

**A/N:** See Chapter 1, "Beginning" for full explanation.

_**Weather the Weather  
Hikaru and Kaoru  
by Em**_

_"...we'll weather the weather / whatever the weather / whether we like it or not."_

And on she went down the hallway, hand trailing on each door and thinking of reasons not to wake the friend behind it; Tamaki slept like the dead, the Twins slept with earphones on and wouldn't hear her anyway, and...

...the Twins…

Kaoru tended to be a lighter sleeper than Hikaru, but even so, she had learned quite a while ago that whenever they first slept somewhere new, they tended to fall asleep with their headphones on. She couldn't understand how that could possibly be comfortable for them, but there wasn't a lot about their habits that she did understand so she never really questioned it. Just accepted it. As she did most things about them all.

'Would they have their headphones on tonight?' she wondered, watching their door as if she tried hard enough she might be able to see through it. She could hear the sound of the rain pounding on the roof above her head, and tried not to think about when the lightning would start.

The inside of her closest was starting to become quite appealing, but she had sworn to herself she wouldn't go there anymore. It was a weakness, just as Tamaki had told her all those months ago. Hiding from her fear rather than facing it and living through it. She knew he was right. It would be hard, she knew it. Facing the fear time and time again, but eventually, it would stop being so frightening. Eventually, she would only jump at the sound of thunder rather than feel the blood freeze in her veins.

She didn't really need to be with anyone on these nights. She had ridden out countless storms on her own before. Still, she had never faced one, never held her ground and waited for it to pass without hiding and cowering. Could she do that alone?

She neared the door to the Twins room, close enough to press her ear against the wood, but she didn't. If they were listening to their headphones as they slept, the world could be falling down around them and they wouldn't know. Surely…surely she could slip inside and they'd be none the wiser? She didn't know that merely being in the presence of someone else would be enough to keep her from searching for the nearest closet, but it was certainly better than being alone.

But…what if they weren't? What if they woke up as she slipped inside, what would she say? She could pretend to be sleep walking, but everyone knew she was no good at acting. Plus, it was the Twins. They'd know.

Maybe Hikaru wouldn't give her a hard time. Oh, he'd definitely tease her about it mercilessly the next day, but he wouldn't kick her out then, neither of them would, and she could deal with the morning after teasing if she didn't have to face this alone, if she didn't have to hide in a closet and hate herself the next day for her weakness and her fear.

Kaoru probably wouldn't say a word. If it were up to him, he would probably pretend to be asleep, let her keep some semblance of her pride.

Was it worth it?

Before her conscious mind could come to a decision, her shadow flashed before her as the lightning lit up the world behind her and every muscle in her body tensed, her eyes squeezing shut and if she would have had a table to hide under or a closet to hide in right at that moment, she would have been inside it faster than she could say her own name.

When no sound of thunder followed the light show, and she could move again, Haruhi's hand was turning the knob in front of her and slowly pushing the door open as if she had consciously decided it.

She hadn't.

But that didn't stop her from peering inside the darkened room, searching the shadows for familiar lines and shapes, blinking to force her eyes to become accustomed to the half-light.

She spotted the bed almost immediately, close enough to the windows to bathe it in the eerie shadows of raindrops traveling on the glass. Fearing the light from the windows in the hallway outside would brighten the room too much and wake them, she stepped far enough inside to close the door quietly behind her and the room darkened another few shades, the shadows grew and melted back into the walls, and on the bed, she could just make out the soft rise and fall of twin breaths.

From such a distance (there must have been a good 7 feet between her and the sleeping boys across a wide expanse of carpet) she couldn't tell which twin was which. She couldn't even tell how they were sleeping. She certainly couldn't tell if they wore headphones or not. So she approached, her bare feet barely leaving an indentation on the floor she traversed.

As she grew near, she started to make out shapes: a bare arm strewn over a mussed head, the face turned toward the window, a leg peeking from the side of the down comforters, clad in some soft material, the color indistinguishable in the soft blue-gray of the room. One twin slept on his back, the other on his stomach, the covers strewn away from him, as if he'd impatiently removed them, and she was close enough to trace the shadow rain as it traveled the strong line of the pale skin of his back before she realized that she was close enough…too close.

And neither wore headphones.

She cursed under her breath and started to back out of the room, knowing she couldn't stay if anything she did might possibly wake them. She was afraid to turn around and walk properly, reasoning it was better to keep an eye on them as she walked, instead of where she was walking. She was halfway across the room when the lightning flashed again and she started, hands covering her mouth to still the gasp of surprise.

And although she made not a noise, although nothing mysteriously appeared in her path to make her stumble or trip, _something_ (perhaps the sudden flash of light) disturbed the twin sleeping on his stomach and he sighed sleepily, turning away from the window and onto his side.

She could see Hikaru's features now (and now she knew it was Hikaru), yet for moment upon moment, she stared right at where his eyes were hidden by shadow and couldn't tell if they were open or not.

And just as she was about to start moving again, she couldn't mistake the flutter of lashes and when he moved again, shifted, really, just a little, she caught the flash of amber in his eye.

He was looking straight at her.

Could he see her?

He had the benefit of the light coming in behind him, rather than toward him as Haruhi had, and if he were awake, there would be no doubt in her mind that he'd be able to see her.

Another flash of lightning surprised her into movement, a slight jerk only, nearly imperceptible, but that was enough.

Hikaru blinked several times and what little light there was played in the lines of a frown. He rubbed at his eyes, and lifted his head from his pillow, leaning forward as if to better inspect the space she occupied. Finally, he simply sat up.

"Haruhi?" he asked, his voice thick and drowsy with sleep and disuse.

She had a very clear desire to tell him he was dreaming and quietly slip out the door, hoping he'd buy it, but then he pulled his legs over the side of the bed and ran his hands through his hair, frowning at her worriedly.

"What is it?" he asked, the hoarseness of his voice making the query sound whispered, urgent. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she replied, and turned, hoping she'd manage to leave the room before he gathered his wits enough to come after her, but then the lightning flashed at the window behind her again and she froze and he realized what was wrong.

She felt his warmth at her back even before she'd unfrozen from waiting for the thunder.

Hikaru's hands took hold of her shoulders even before she could react. He waited a moment until he felt the tension leave them as the time passed and the thunder didn't come. Without saying a word, he turned her around to face him. When she looked at him, about to argue, he smiled at her so softly that the words stalled in her throat. He looked over his shoulder to find that Kaoru was already awake and sitting up on the bed, his expression hooded in shadow. They shared a silent conversation, the way they often did, and when Hikaru walked around behind Haruhi and started to lead her gently in the direction of the bed, Kaoru wasn't surprised. He merely lifted the covers from the bed and waited.

It wasn't until she was close enough to see the sleep still in Kaoru's eyes warring with concern that she realized how close Hikaru had led her. "Wait," she stopped walking. "What are you doing?" she asked, her own voice hushed for some reason as she shot a look at Hikaru over her shoulder, his warm hands on her shoulders preventing her from turning all the way around.

Unexpectedly, Hikaru's hands trailed down her bare arms and wrapped around her waist, pulling her against his chest from behind, tucking his face against her neck. "You're about to drop on your feet, Haruhi," he answered, his voice still low and sleepy, but less rough. "But you can't sleep because of the storm, right?"

Haruhi turned her face away, her gaze falling on Kaoru who was looking at her patiently.

"Trust us," Hikaru said, loosening his arms from the embrace and letting his hands rest on her hips, fingers absently picking at the folds she had made of the waist of her too long pajama pants. "It'll be okay." She looked up and met his eyes again, feeling something tight in her chest release at the thought she wouldn't have to do this alone. He started to lead her back toward the bed and she must have made some unconscious move of hesitation because suddenly Kaoru was there, on his knees, near the edge of the bed, his hand held out to her.

"Just so you can fall asleep," he said, his own voice so like Hikaru's but softer.

And maybe it was because she really was tired, physically tired from lack of sleep and emotionally tired of being afraid and maybe it was simply because she didn't want to be alone, but whatever the reason, in the end why Haruhi allowed Hikaru to lead her to their bed, it was her hand that reached out to take hold of Kaoru's, and her impulse that raised her legs so she could climb onto the soft mattress, still warm from Hikaru's body.

And despite their teasing and flirtation, in the end, she trusted them, deep down, to keep her safe. She never thought to doubt that. When she felt Hikaru climb onto the mattress after her, she didn't tense or worry, simply crawled further to the middle, Kaoru's hand still holding hers, and let Hikaru lead her backwards onto the mattress, his hands leaving a trail of warmth on the nape of her neck as he lowers her onto the pillow that still smelled of their shampoo.

Before she could get settled, however, a series of flashes without thunder exposed the room in their bare eery light, and Haruhi's eyes went wide and frightened, her body tensed for a moment, and then Kaoru laid down next to her, gently pulling her hand across his chest and tucking it on his right side so that she is left with no choice but to curl up on her side, pressed against his left, her cheek resting on the sleep warmed skin of his chest, just above his rib cage.

"Close your eyes and sleep, Haruhi," Kaoru said as the fingers of his left hand began running rhythmically through her hair.

Behind her, she felt the mattress shift as Hikaru spooned up against her back, raising the covers over all three before wrapping his arms around her middle, hooking his legs with hers.

"It's okay," Hikaru whispered against her shoulder blade, his lips ghosting over the sliver of skin exposed by the sleeveless tank top. "Nothing can happen to you here."

"We won't let it," Kaoru promised, his voice reverberating through his chest, seemingly cutting through Haruhi's consciousness.

Haruhi, unused to feeling so enclosed, held her breath for a few moments, blinking at the expanse of smooth slightly muscled chest, and let herself feel everything around her. The cotton-jersey blend of the sweatpants Hikaru slept in, the warmth of Hikaru's chest against the thin cotton of her tank top, Kaoru's fingers threaded up in hers, his skin under her cheek, the smell of them wrapped around her, their very life enfolding her, and finally, finally, the soft rhythmic rise and fall of Hikaru's breathing behind her, and Kaoru's steady, even heartbeat beneath her, and she sighed.

She closed her eyes, immersed in these new and yet utterly comfortable sensations and the thought occurred to her, from some very far away place, that here, in this warm, living haven, she couldn't know if it was still raining, let alone hear the thunder.


End file.
